{"id":661952,"date":"2026-05-24T08:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T08:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/661952\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T08:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T08:05:08","slug":"alex-ovechkin-choosing-between-one-year-contract-and-nhl-retirement-likely-wont-make-decision-before-start-of-free-agency-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/661952\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Ovechkin choosing between one-year contract and NHL retirement, likely won\u2019t make decision before start of free agency: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Ovechkin<\/a> has a major decision to make this summer about his future, and more details are emerging about the timeline and factors involved, per The Athletic\u2019s Barry Svrluga<\/a>, formerly of the Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a story published Friday, Svrluga \u2014 one of the few local reporters who appears to have a direct line to Brian MacLellan<\/a> \u2014 reported that the only contract under consideration for Ovechkin is a one-year deal for the 2026-27 season. Such an agreement would almost certainly trigger a farewell tour for the future Hockey Hall of Famer \u2014 something that he\u2019d have to \u201cdeal with,\u201d per Svrluga. Late in the 2025-26 season, Sportsnet\u2019s Nick Kypreos wrote that a farewell tour was not something Ovechkin was interested in<\/a>, as he admired Wayne Gretzky\u2019s surprise retirement. (ESPN\u2019s Emily Kaplan later added that Ovechkin\u2019s inner circle said that information \u201cdidn\u2019t come from them.\u201d<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The short-term contract revelation comes after Ovechkin joked during his Breakdown Day interview<\/a> that a perfect scenario when he next met with Capitals general manager Chris Patrick would be a multi-year offer from the team<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you for two more years, this is a contract, sign it,\u201d Ovechkin said, smiling<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If Ovechkin does return for a 22nd NHL season at age 41, the biggest factor in his decision beyond how he feels physically would be how competitive the Washington Capitals<\/a> are and whether they can challenge for a Stanley Cup again. The Capitals\u2019 plan is something that the team\u2019s leadership at an executive level, including owner Ted Leonsis, has been \u201clittered with questions\u201d<\/a> about from Ovechkin.<\/p>\n

So far in the offseason, the Capitals have re-signed depth right-handed shooting defenseman Timothy Liljegren to a two-year contract<\/a> and hired power-play specialist Ray Bennett as an assistant coach<\/a>. (The Capitals will be Bennett\u2019s third team in the last three seasons.)<\/p>\n

Previously, Patrick said the Caps will be aggressive to try and land a top-six forward<\/a>, though there are slim pickings in free agency, minus 33-goal-scorer Alex Tuch<\/a>. Part of why the Capitals dealt pending unrestricted free agent John Carlson<\/a>, Patrick explained, was to gain a desirable future asset that could potentially help the team land a star forward. They currently have slightly over $33.2 million in projected salary cap space available, heading into June when activity across the league picks up.<\/p>\n

As for when Ovechkin will make his decision, Svrluga says it will likely not come before the NHL Draft or the start of free agency, which is the opposite of what the Capitals preferred<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Capitals have told him, \u2018We would love a decision by the June 26 draft, just to help us with our roster planning for next season,\u2019\u201d ESPN\u2019s Emily Kaplan reported in mid-April<\/a>. \u201cBut at the same time, they\u2019re not pressuring him. They feel like he\u2019s earned the right to call his shot, whenever that might be, because of everything that he\u2019s accomplished in his career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery added in a recent interview<\/a> that \u201cwe\u2019ve tried to give O, especially early right now with the playoffs still going on, as much space as he needs. To be with his family, to be able to really take a minute to step back and reflect, and that\u2019s the way the organization is approaching that, that\u2019s how I\u2019ll approach it now. With regards to planning \u2013 what\u2019s it going to look like, what\u2019s our power play look like, what\u2019s our lines look like, there\u2019s no time frame on it, but yeah, I\u2019m sort of planning for two different scenarios as we speak right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carbery added that the talents of prospects like Cole Hutson and Ilya Protas likely could have some impact on if the team\u2019s captain returns or not.<\/p>\n

\u201c[A]s we get younger and as we sort of look forward to what the post-Ovi era looks like, that has given him a little bit of energy and a boost at times,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cJust kind of seeing how much enthusiasm those young kids have and coming in, the skill level that they have. There\u2019s no doubt that\u2019s helped a little bit, as O has played the last couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Ovechkin, he told the media before returning home to Russia that \u201cI hope it\u2019s not my last game\u201d<\/a> and that he\u2019s \u201cpretty sure\u201d he\u2019d return<\/a>. Ovechkin has already been spotted working out this week<\/a>, playing padel, and appearing to remain in great shape.<\/p>\n

What may be the biggest challenge is when things turn serious again in the gym. Ovechkin notoriously does not enjoy offseason training<\/a>, and recovery gets much harder for athletes when they enter their 40s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate preseason,\u201d Ovechkin said during a Russian podcast interview last June<\/a>, and translated by Google Translate. \u201cI really hate it. I don\u2019t like to just train. This is the hardest thing. Imagine you arrived after your vacation, you have a tan, everything is fine, you\u2019re happy. And your coach calls you and says, \u2018Well, Sash? Tomorrow we begin training.\u2019 You go to training, then rest, then another training session. I hate it, I can\u2019t stand it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added jokingly, \u201cI just want to be done with hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Ovechkin has a major decision to make this summer about his future, and more details are emerging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-661952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}